124 



NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



trouble, and in some winter trials the 

 comb was so cold and brittle that the 

 cell-walls would crumble under tne 

 knife, having a rough, jagged edge 

 like the edge of a 'broken egg-shell, 

 and yet the removal of the cappings 

 was carried out perfectly in every 

 case without any clogging of knives, 

 and, under all these conditions, patches 

 of unsealed comb were leveled off 

 without trouble. 



The knives are iheld rigidly in place 

 while doing their work, yet • are 

 easily removed for sharpening or 

 cleaning, and they work at such an 

 angle that suction and friction are re- 

 duced to their lowest point. 



They are so arranged with relation 

 to the advancing comb that their 

 points are introduced first, and as a 

 comb advances, tihe edges widen the 

 cut, but the loosened iposition is held 

 in place and carried forward by the 

 uncut portion between the blades until 

 the rear points of the cutting edges 

 are reached, when the detached cap- 

 pings fall into the tank below, and can 

 not again come in contact with the 

 com.b. 



After the knives, the mo3t important 

 -consideration is tIhe manner of hand- 

 ling the frames. 



In all the machines of which I have 

 been able to learn, the frames are 

 dropped or forced downward through 

 the machine, the object seeming to be, 

 to handle them the same as tlhey are 

 handled in the hive, but this method is 

 open to some serious objections. 



Either the comb, after being un- 

 capped, must (be withdrawn again from 

 tIhe top, taking extra time and labor, 

 or, if taken out at the bottom, the 

 hands of the operator must be put 

 down into the capping tank and di- 

 rectly in the way of the dripping 

 honey and cappings; or else there is 

 provided a special slide or guide to 

 carry the frame out at the end of the 

 machine after being uncapped. 



In either of the last two methods, 

 the combs are withdrawn at a point 

 considerably lower than the one at 

 which they are inserted, making rather 

 awkward work in. handling, especially 

 if one has to reach down into the cap- 

 ping tank; besides, the comb, being 

 taken out at the bottom, would be 

 likely to become more or less loaded 

 with the cappings dropping from the 

 Icnives above. 



"With my machine once established 



at the proper working height, all the 

 work is done at this height, there be- 

 ing no necessity for the 'hands to be 

 brought in contact wih the dripping 

 honey from the knives, and the ma- 

 chine will work over any capping tank 

 with a top opening as large as two 

 inches square, and used with one of 

 the new capping- melters, one would 

 have an ideal comibination. 



In developing my machine, I worked 

 on the theory that as long as one had 

 to handle the frames anyway, the 

 movement should be confined to the 

 frame, and have all iparts of the ma- 

 chine stationary; in other words, it is 

 easier and better to move the frame 

 alone than to move both the frame 

 and the madhine. 



The thrust-bar used for pushing the 

 frame the last two or three inches, is 

 the only part of the machine which 

 moves during the operation of uncap- 

 ping, and, while that is very light and 

 simple, I am still trying to devise 

 some means of getting rid of it. One 

 suggestion I have received Is to remove 

 it entirely, and pull the comb the last 

 two or three inches -with the fingers, 

 but I fear this would put rather a 

 severe strain on the finger muscles, if 

 kept up all day, especially with the 

 full-depth frames. 



In selecting frames for this demon- 

 stration, I took those which would rep- 

 resent the average conditions under 

 which the machine would have to work 

 when in use. 



The deep frames have been un- 

 capped once before, this being the 

 second filling; but the shallow ones are 

 filled for the first time, and are, 

 therefore, more uneven in surface than 

 would be the case if they had been 

 evened up once by the machine and 

 then refilled; some of them have low 

 spots, which the knives will probably 

 miss; one in particular lacks consider- 

 able of being (built out, and shows 

 quite a little unsealed soirface; all were 

 filled during a slow, unsteady fall 

 flow, and I had to feed to get the deep 

 ones finislhed, so they probably repre- 

 sent as poor conditions as the ma- 

 chine w^ould have to contend with in 

 everyday work. 



In the act of uncapping, the frame is 

 set into the flaring lower guides, and 

 pushed through between the knives 

 until the end-bar is even with the up- 

 rights of the machine, when a dog 

 drops behind the top-bar, and a 



